Feed-water heater



Patented Jan. 12, 1886.

N. PLTERS, Pholn-Lilhugmphur. Washington. D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT Orrrca.

HAMILTON POE, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

FEED-WATER HEATER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 334,192, dated January 12, 1886.

Application filed November 11,1884.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HAMILTON POE, of St. Louis, Missouri, have made a new and useful Improvement in Feed Water Heaters for Steam-Boilers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This is an improvementin that class of feedwater heaters which introduce the waterin the form of spray into the boilers.

It consists partly in the means for regulating the inflow of the feed-water, partly to the means by which the position of the valve used in regulating the inflow of the feed-water is determined, partly to the mode of balancing the feed-water valve, and partly to the means used in spraying the feed-water.

The annexed drawings, making part of this specification, illustrate the. improvement.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improvement, the boiler-shell being shown in section 5 Fig. 2, a vertical section on the line 23 of Fig. 1, the feed-water valve being seated; Fig. 3, a similar section, the feed-water valve being unseated.

The same letters of reference denote the same parts.

The feed-water, as indicated by the arrow :0, Fig. 1, is introduced through the pipe A. It flows into the chamber B, and thence past the valve 0 into the boiler D. Only that portion of the boiler immediately connected with the improvement is exhibited. The valve seats at 6, near the lower end of the plug E. This plug is screwed into the boiler-shell d, and, if desired, a jam-nut, F, maybe screwed from the interior of the boiler onto the plug and against the boiler-shell. The jam-nut, however, in many instances is omitted. The plug E is made hollow to admit the feed-water from the chamber B, and it serves to support the chamber B and the other parts of thefeedwater device. It may, and is so shown, be an extension of the shell b of the chamber B. The valve 0 is attached to the stem 0. The stem extends upward through the plug and chamber, passing out through the chamber-shell b, upward through or past the cross-bar G, and at its upper end having a weight, H, attached to it. The cross-bar G is upheld by the rods I I, which in turn are supported by the lugs 12 b upon the shell I). A spring, J, encircles the stem, its lower end resting upon the crossbar G and its upper end bearing upward against a vertically-adjustable shoulder, K,

. upon the valvestem, and which is in the form of a nut adapted to be screwed upward and downward upon the valvestem. By screwing the nut downward upon the valve-stem the spring is compressed, and the valve is adapted to open less readily, and by adjusting the nut higher up upon the valve-stem the valve is adapted to open more readily. This feature of the improvement is of especial value when a battery of boilers is beingv supplied from a common pipe, and each boiler is supplied with one of the present feed-water devices. In such case the waterpressure varies in the different feed-water devices, and by means of the adj usting mechanism described the various valves can be suitably adjusted to the various pressures. The weight H is used to balance the valve against the boiler-pressure. The valve'stem is furnished with a finger, L,which rises and falls with the valve-stem and valve. It is adapted to operate,in connection with the fixed graduated arm M, upon the chamber B, the position of the finger upon the graduation indicating the position of the valve with reference to its seat. WVhether the valve is opened or closed or how far it is opened can therefore be readily determined by noticing the position of the finger upon the graduation.

Hitherto in such feed-water devices it has been customary to employ within the boiler a large inverted cup shaped plate, termed a breaker, against which the'feed-water is directed, and in consequence broken into spray. Such a plate is objectionable in that it requires, by reason of its size, to be introduced into the boiler through a large opening, such as the man-hole, and which is often remote from the point at which it is desired to attach the feed-water device, and to be upheld from within the boiler in connecting it with the exterior portion of the device. This difficulty is overcome in the present construction as follows: The plug E, without enlarging its external diameter, is extended belowthe valveseat 6, and is shaped to form the flange e. The flange extends downward to the level of the valve at its largest diameter when the valve is opened. The feed-water then, after it passes the valve, encounters the flange, and is thereby broken into spray; but, owing to the mannor of forming the flange, all that portion of the feed-water device which needs to be within the boiler can be inserted through the opening made in the boiler-shell to receive the plug E. The valve 0 at its lower end is preferably tapered to a point, as thereby the boiler-pressure is less liable to interfere with the working of the. valve.

I claim- 1. The combination of the boiler D, the plug E, the chamber B, the cross-bar G, supported substantially as described, the valve 0, the

stem 0, the spring J, and the shoulder K, substantially as described.

2. The combination, in a feed-water-heater r 5 device, of the boiler D, the plug E, having the valvescat e and the flange e, as described, and the valve 0, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

\Vitness my hand.

HAMILTON POE.

Vitnesses:

O. D. MOODY, J. \V. HOKE. 

